Trump downplays Iran's nuclear threat as ceasefire collapses

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Washington's ceasefire with Iran is over, and threatened more military action, after the two sides clashed overnight.

Trump, in a flurry of remarks during numerous press events on his final day at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, also signaled the U.S. would reimpose its naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

Later, he seemed to downplay the nuclear threat posed by Iran, while ruling out the need for any U.S. troops on the ground in the country.

"We've already got the nuclear material because it's so far underground, nobody's going to be able to get it except us, because we have the equipment that can get it," Trump told reporters during a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, referring to the aftermath of U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites last year.

The nuclear assessment marked a pivot from his justification for the Iran war, which he began Feb. 28. Trump has cited his concern that Iran was on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon for continuing the conflict.

Trump was asked how the U.S. plans to achieve its nuclear goals with Iran in light of the apparent collapse of their ceasefire deal.

In response, he suggested that the U.S. was under no pressure to collect Iran's nuclear material — even though a key component of the deal was an agreement to "resolve the disposition of stockpile enriched material" in Iran.

When asked if that means the U.S. has no plans to put boots on the ground in Iran, Trump said, "Why would I go in now?"

"I go in when they're completely, either eliminated ... or an agreement's made," he added.

The president's strident new comments on attacking versus negotiating with Iran followed a series of strikes in the Middle East this week, despite the U.S. signing a temporary ceasefire deal with Iran last month.

"I think it's over," Trump said in response to a reporter's question about the status of that deal during an appearance with NATO chief Mark Rutte.

"I don't want to deal with them anymore … as far as I'm concerned, it's over," Trump said, referring to Iran.

Trump said Washington's delegation wanted to negotiate a peace deal, but that he saw it as "a waste of time dealing with" the Iranian side.

In another meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later Wednesday, Trump said the U.S. will "very probably" attack Iran "hard again tonight."

"I'll give him a little warning. We're going to hit them hard tonight, but we'll see how it all works out," Trump said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was also attending the meeting, confirmed that "tonight, if we need to, on your order, Mr. President, we will hit even more and even deeper" into Iran.

Trump added that the U.S. may also reimpose its naval blockade against Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil route that has been the flashpoint for the latest hostilities.

"We may put it back, the blockade, and it'll only be a blockade for Iran," Trump said.

The comments came hours after the U.S. military conducted a "series of powerful strikes" against Iran in retaliation for three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz coming under attack on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department withdrew a waiver that had allowed Iran to sell its oil.

Oil prices rose dramatically after Trump spoke, with global benchmark Brent crude futures for September delivery jumping 5.7% to trade at around $78.41 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures added 5.9%, climbing to $74.60 a barrel.

Oil prices

In a post Tuesday on X, Central Command said U.S. forces hit more than 80 targets, including air defense systems, command and control networks as well as anti-ship missile capabilities.

It added that more than 60 Revolutionary Guard small boats were hit to degrade Iran's ability to attack international commerce.

In an earlier post, Centcom said the strikes were "to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway."

"The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire."

In a statement on Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry labeled the strikes a "gross violation of the Memorandum of Understanding" Washington and Iran reached last month to bring their war to an end.

"The powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as they have repeatedly shown, will not hesitate to defend Iran's territorial integrity, national sovereignty, and national security against American military aggression," the ministry said, according to a Google translation.

The U.S. and Iran traded blows last month after similar Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the strait, a critical shipping route for oil and other vital commodities.

The effective closure of the waterway after the outbreak of the war saw oil prices surge, fueling concerns about an energy shock that could feed into higher inflation across the globe.

Correction: U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures added 5.9%, climbing to $74.60 a barrel. An earlier version mischaracterized the move.